At the kill spot, take many pictures of the deer and your surroundings from various angles but only with your camera; document every inch of rack while it is still attached to the big deer.

If you want privacy, do not email anyone a picture, not even your brother or best friend, or else you and your giant will pop up on a forum and then be all over the Web, I promise you that.

Tag monster before you move it; take a picture of you tagging the deer for documentation. Very important!

Call a CO/warden and insist he come look at the giant. If he says “no need” insist he come and officially document it.

Do not ride around town and show it off. People will talk and take pictures, and those nasty rumors will start.

Do not take monster to a butcher shop or taxidermist (again people will gawk, take pictures, etc.). At home after skinning, be careful if you saw the rack off the head—if you break the skull plate the buck is not eligible for the B&C book.

Sadly, you need to lock the rack in a gun safe or undisclosed secure location. If a thug knows you shot a monster he might target your house-- a big reason that the fewer people who know about your giant right off the bat, the better. BTW, from what I hear, both Iowa hunters who recently shot those 200-inchers worried the racks might be stolen.

Unless you shoot the new world record, forget about making millions. For a 200-plus-net typical or 250-inch NT, a bow/gun/ammo company might send you around to some deer/trade shows next winter/spring, but they don’t pay nearly as much as some guys think. Plus, should it be about the money?

Some people say contact a lawyer. Why in hell would you do that? That would just add to the rumors you have something to hide.

Some will inevitably try to rain on your parade, saying you shot it at night, in a pen, on a posted sanctuary, etc. Smile and forget them.

When you are ready to tell your story and release your photos, contact me :) I’ll post your dream buck on the blog, write it up in a magazine and feature it on Versus TV.

Hanback, you forgot about the part where Hugh Hefner invites you to the Mansion, where you'll be privy to...

Never mind!

O.K., in all seriousness, I think you coverd all the bases. The part I liked that you wrote was the part where you smile and forget about all the knuckleheads out there who willl no doubt try to bash your name and your authentic kill. If I ever shot one like that I'd not show it to anyone at first...and, because of this the rumors will intensify even more. And, to back up what Mike said about $$$. There is no such thing as a millioin dollar deer. Not even a world record. This is why I say phooey to all the money hounds out there trying to make a name ofr themselves. If I shot the world record typical, or non-typical, I would never sell it to anyone...for NO amount of money.

I agree with everything you said Mike, especially the money standpoint. People thought I was crazy not to try and sell the big buck I shot last year. I was like "why?". It isa once in a lifetime trophy and no amount of money would compensate losing that. I know most people (those not out there to make money) would regret selling a big buck likethat.

OK sounds good sire!,....now after I shoot the monster tonight I'll cover all my angles and shoot ya an email and we can work some thing out !! lol,....LOL.....I am in it to have a good time and if I shoot a wall hanger than is jut icing on the cake!.....I enjoy just being out in the woods and relaxing!

As always, good stuff, Mike. I would lke to hear from one of those hunters that shot a moster like that on the nasty stuff for those reasons. Don't know if anyone would ever care to re-hash all that negative stuff and would understand why. I guess I think it would interesting.

i had not heard that, but it goes to what I was saying, you let evenone picture get out or it will be everywhere. i will go to B&C site and follow their lead, if they pull the shot I will too. but once it;s out it's out.

Yeh B&C site is taking a verbal bashing from the locals there in Iowa for not having permission to post the pic. Some would say this big buck craze has gotten to the point where a man has to be scared to tell his story due to thieves and the rumor mill. I for one am tired of being beat up for being a trophy hunter and am not ashamed to say that chasing trophy whitetails with archery equipment is my passion and I could give a rats A** what everybody else is doing! Anyhow, enjoying the blog/show!

Well, I probably wont have to worry about getting the next Indiana 200" But I certainly would be ok with that if I did! But...there is no way I wouldever sell that thing! Never really understood why you would want to sellsomething like that, for most of us, it would probably be once in a lifetime.

You made a lot of very good points and I feel you are generally correct in all of them. It is sad to say that there are people out there that would try to benefit from your happy day legally or illegally.